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London Police Urge Students to Move Oct. 7 Pro-Palestine March, Admit They Can't Find Organizers
The Met is calling on the “University of London Coalition” to reschedule its Oct. 7 student march, saying the anniversary of the Hamas attacks is a “day of mourning” for London's Jewish community. Police say they have been unable to identify the organizers.
Why it matters
Oct. 7 marks three years since the Hamas attacks on Israel. At midday that Wednesday, around 300 students plan to march from King's College London in the Strand to University College London in Holborn, demanding an end to what they describe as a “genocide in Gaza.” The Met has made the unusual admission that it cannot identify the march's organizers, and is urging a different date.
Full report
Deputy Assistant Commissioner James Harman said the organizers call themselves the “University of London Coalition.” Despite “every effort through formal and informal channels,” the force has been unable to identify anyone willing to take responsibility for the event; the BBC has also contacted the group for comment.
Harman said the march did not meet the strict legal threshold at which police could ask the home secretary to ban a protest, but noted that for many Londoners Oct. 7 will be “a day of mourning,” with vigils planned to remember those killed on Oct. 7, 2023. He urged anyone intending to join to “reflect on the impact and distress it will cause on this very significant day, and exercise your right to protest on a different date.”
The force has written to four London universities asking them to engage with students and staff and take “all reasonable steps” to ensure students do not feel “excluded, targeted or unsafe.” If the march goes ahead, police will use their “full powers” to impose conditions on the route and timing; anyone breaching conditions will be arrested, and officers will take a zero-tolerance approach to hate crime.
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